India: Andhra Pradesh liquor consumption rate comes down

The new liquor policy that was brought with an aim to implement a complete ban on liquor in phased manner has been yielding positive results as the consumption rate has come down, according to the Andhra Pradesh government, the Times of India reported on December 4.

In a statement released on December 3, the state government claimed that the sale of liquor has come down by 25 per cent and beer sales have fallen by 54 per cent in the month of November when compared to corresponding period in the previous year.

According to the data released by the government, liquor sales have come down from 29.62 lakh cases in November 2018 to 22.31 lakh cases in November 2019 which is a fall of around 25 per cent.

The sale of beer has fallen sharply by around 54 per cent. While 17.80 lakh cases of beer were sold in November 2018, only 8.13 lakh cases were sold in November 2019.

However, the revenue from liquor has remained the same despite the sharp reduction in consumption with the imposition additional retail tax (ART), according to excise officials.

The state government has attributed the drop in consumption to the reduction of the number of shops, abolishing of belt shops, doing away with permit rooms and strict adherence to timings which have been reduced by three hours a day.

06 December, 2019